Will Applebee's Healthy Items Satisfy?

In the world of American casual dining restaurants, the "big four" can be split into two groups. On one side, we have Chili's and TGI Friday's, which affect a wide-open sort of atmosphere where the margaritas flow freely and the party never stops. On the other are Applebee's and Ruby Tuesday, which present a more low-key, slightly classier image, replacing the margaritas perhaps with a nice glass of Chardonnay.

Of course, it's fair to note that the bar area in actuality takes up nearly as much floor space as the dining area and seems to be fully appointed with all the necessary implements to create margaritas and wide variety of other non-Chardonnay tipples.

If only Applebee's was so inviting when it comes to providing nutritional information for its menu items. A terse statement buried in the FAQ section of the company Web site reads: "We provide Weight Watchers points values on all our Weight Watchers items. We do not provide nutritional information on other Applebee's items, except where required by law."

Fortunately, we don't need their help. The Daily Plate, part of the Livestrong network, provides reliable nutritional information on all manner of restaurant food, including Applebee's. Past experience has shown its information to be highly accurate, and it is the source for nutritional information for this article.

For their recalcitrance in providing nutritional information, Applebee's will pay the penalty of having their most high-calorie item, according to The Daily Plate, revealed. It's the Boneless Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Dressing, coming in at a hefty 1,724 calories, followed closely by the 1644 calories in the Chicken Broccoli Pasta Alfredo bowl.

But on to the comparison! In this faceoff, we've got one of Applebee's Weight Watchers entrees, the Grilled Chili-Lime Chicken Salad, up against one of the biggest, baddest burgers on the menu, the Cowboy Burger.

Each entry was evaluated on taste, appearance and overall impression. Nutrition will factor into the final verdict.

Weight Watchers Grilled Chili-Lime Chicken Salad: 250 calories, 6 grams fat, 39 grams carbs (no sodium information)

This one rises or falls on the dressing. The salad itself is fairly basic, with grilled chicken atop a bed of spinach tossed with red onions, roasted red peppers, mushrooms and reduced-fat cheddar and mozzarella. The cheeses were waxy and seriously lacking in flavor, but the chicken was tender and juicy. The red onions tasted as if they'd been cut some time ago, having lost a lot of their usual sweet bite. The vinaigrette, however, really brought all the flavor to the party. Tart and spicy as you'd expect from the name, it really knit the whole bowl together.

Cowboy Burger: 840 calories, 47 grams fat, 1,950 mg sodium, 57 grams carbs

Whose cockeyed idea was it to start topping perfectly good grilled hamburgers with onion rings? There's nothing better than a thick slice of red or yellow onion, or even a modest pile of grilled ones, on a burger. But turn that onion into a ring and all you get is more fat and grease without much in the way of flavor. The honey barbecue sauce didn't do the burger any favors, either, being far too sweet for the applewood-smoked bacon and cheddar and jack cheeses. Instead of complimenting each other, they jangle the taste buds and don't provide a good picture. The burger itself was freshly made, although overcooked.

The comparisons don't get much easier than this one. Even without the nutrition angle, the salad here is the easy winner. It won't leave you quite as full as the burger, but maybe that means you'll have room for a 763-calorie Maple Butter Blondie dessert.